Srinagar- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had sent a message to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and mother Sonia Gandhi before the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered Jammu and Kashmir, saying that he was “going to his home”.
This was narrated by Rahul Gandhi’s sibling Priyanka Gandhi at a rally to mark the culmination of the nearly five month-long Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
Later, Rahul Gandhi said he had tears in his eyes when Priyanka Gandhi talked about his message.
The Gandhis have their familial roots in Jammu and Kashmir.
In her remarks at the rally at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium which was attended by several Opposition leaders as well, Priyanka Gandhi said the politics that is happening cannot benefit the country.
“The politics that divides, harms the country,” she said.
“My brother has been walking for the last five months from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. At the start, I thought it was a long journey, whether people would come out or not. But they came out everywhere from Kanyakumari to here,” the Congress general secretary said.
“They came out because people of the country have a spirit for the country’s constitution, its unity,” she said.
Priyanka Gandhi thanked the people of Jammu and Kashmir for welcoming the yatra with open hearts.
“When my brother was about to reach Jammu and Kashmir, he sent a message to me and my mother saying that he was getting a feeling that he was going to his home,” she said.
“He (Rahul) had said that ‘my family members (people of Jammu and Kashmir) , when they meet me and hug me, they have tears in their eyes, their pain and sentiments touch my heart’,” she said.
Priyanka Gandhi said she felt proud standing here that the Congress carried out a yatra which was supported by the whole country.
In a way the yatra has been spiritual for the Congress leaders who participated, the leaders of other parties who took part, ‘Bharat Yatris’ and Rahul Gandhi, she said.
“It is our duty to protect the foundation of this country built on the basis of truth, ‘ahimsa (non-violence)’ and love,” she said.
Priyanka Gandhi said the ‘Bharat Yatris’ have shown the way of love and brotherhood.
“They have shown us a ray of hope. I hope that the hate will end and love will take the country forward and unite everyone,” she said.
The yatra culminated on Monday with an event at the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) headquarters in the Lal Chowk area here and the rally at the stadium.
The yatra traversed 12 states and two Union territories in over 140 days after its launch on September 7 last year, clocking over 4,000 km.
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